\n Since 1891\, the first of August has been celebrated as S
wiss National Day. The date refers to a historic alliance concluded in 129
1 by the three cantons of Uri\, Schwyz and Unterwalden.

\n

\n Switzer
land\, officially the Swiss Confederation\, is a federal parliamentary rep
ublic consisting of 26&nbsp\;cantons\, with Bern as the seat of the federa
l authorities. The country is situated in Western and Central Europe\, whe
re it is bordered by Germany to the north\, France to the west\, Italy to
the south\, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a la
ndlocked country geographically divided between the Alps\, the Swiss Plate
au and the Jura\, spanning an area of 41\,285&nbsp\;km2 (15\,940&nbsp\;sq&
nbsp\;mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory\, the S
wiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly o
n the Plateau\, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are t
he two global cities and economic centers of Z&uuml\;rich and Geneva\, who
se influence can be seen not only in Switzerland but all over the world. S
witzerland has four official languages: principally German (65.3% total po
pulation share\, with foreign residents\; 73.2% of residents with Swiss ci
tizenship\, in 2011)\; French (22.4%\; 23.1%) in the west\; Italian (8.4%\
; 6.1%) in the south. Switzerland has a population of 8.02 million as of 2
012.

\n

\n The establishment of the Swiss Confederation is traditiona
lly dated to 1 August 1291\, which is celebrated annually as Swiss Nationa
l Day. It has a long history of armed neutrality&mdash\;it has not been in
a state of war internationally since 1815&mdash\;and did not join the Uni
ted Nations until 2002. It pursues\, however\, an active foreign policy an
d is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Swi
tzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large numbe
r of international organizations\, including the second largest UN office.
On the European level\, it is a founding member of the European Free Trad
e Association and is part of the Schengen Area &ndash\; although it is not
ably not a member of the European Union\, nor the European Economic Area.
Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions: German\,
French\, Italian and the Romansh-speaking valleys. Therefore the Swiss\, a
lthough predominantly German-speaking\, do not form a nation in the sense
of a common ethnic or linguistic identity\; rather\, the strong sense of i
dentity and community is founded on a common historical background\, share
d values such as federalism and direct democracy\, and Alpine symbolism.
p>\n
DTEND:2015-08-06T00:00:00
DTSTART:2015-08-06T00:00:00
SUMMARY:Bolivian National Holiday
END:VEVENT
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DESCRIPTION:
DTEND:2015-08-06T00:00:00
DTSTART:2015-08-06T00:00:00
SUMMARY:Jamaican National Holiday
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DESCRIPTION: